page_title: Sonic Advance
section_title: Development and release
hierarchical_section_title: Sonic Advance / Development and release
caption_attribution_description: The Game Boy Advance (GBA), a 32-bit handheld gaming system made by Nintendo and released in 2001. This is the first model in the GBA line-up, which features a non-backlit color screen and runs off of two AA batteries. This is a "Indigo" model, a purple color that matched the GameCube, that was one of the three colors available for the North American launch.
context_page_description: Sonic Advance is a 2001 side-scrolling platform game developed by Dimps for the Game Boy Advance. It was the first Sonic the Hedgehog game to be released on a Nintendo platform and was produced in commemoration of the series' tenth anniversary. The story follows Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy as they journey to stop Doctor Eggman from taking over the world. Controlling a character, players are tasked with completing each level, defeating Eggman and his robot army, and collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds.
  Development began after Sega shifted its focus to third-party software development, due to the poor performance of the Dreamcast console. Sega recruited Dimps to lead development, making the game the first in the franchise developed by the studio. While Sonic Advance follows a similar style of gameplay to the Sega Genesis Sonic games, certain concepts and designs were reused from newer titles such as Sonic Adventure. The game has been ported to Nokia's N-Gage and Android devices, and is available on the Wii U via the Virtual Console in Japan.
context_section_description: In January 2001, Sega, facing financial troubles with the underperformance of its Dreamcast console, shifted from first to third-party software publishing, with Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance (GBA) being primary focuses. A team of developers was formed to begin development on Sonic the Hedgehog Advance (later renamed Sonic Advance), a Sonic title for the GBA that would commemorate the series' 10th anniversary. Dimps, a studio formed by several former Neo Geo Pocket Color developers and funded by Sega, Sony, and Bandai, developed the game with assistance from Sonic Team. Sonic Team conceived the game, but was understaffed on employees familiar with the GBA hardware and so recruited Dimps. Several Dimps members worked on the critically acclaimed Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (1999) for the Neo Geo Pocket Color.
  The developers decided to return to a gameplay style similar to the original Genesis Sonic games, which Naka felt was refreshing. Despite this, they also incorporated concepts from Sonic Adventure (1998) and its 2001 sequel, such as the ability to grind on rails and the modernized character designs by Yuji Uekawa. As the Sonic games released for the Dreamcast allowed players to download minigames onto the Visual Memory Unit (VMU), the development team decided to expand upon this by using a similar concept with the GameCube's GBA link cable, making Sonic Advance one of the first games to use the cable. It also features graphical techniques such as rotation effects and Mode 7.
  Sega announced Sonic Advance and two other GBA titles on January 30, 2001. A video containing footage of the game's first level was featured at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in May 2001, and demo versions were showcased at Nintendo Space World and the Tokyo Game Show later that year. Sega released Sonic Advance in Japan on December 20, 2001, while THQ released it in North America on February 3, 2002. The game was released in Europe on March 8, 2002, where Infogrames handled marketing and distribution. A port for Nokia's N-Gage, SonicN, was released worldwide on October 7, 2003. In 2005, it was compiled with ChuChu Rocket!, Sonic Pinball Party, and Sonic Battle in separate bundle packs for the GBA. The game was released on Android on November 25, 2011, and on the Wii U's Virtual Console on February 18, 2015. Both of these rereleases are exclusive to Japan.
caption: Sonic Advance was developed for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance handheld console
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